Golden Gate

Dinner with friends last night, in between hilariously bad round of charades, whipped cream mishaps, and really good food, I remembered I had long-ago promised to lend Bill Vikram Seth's Golden Gate.  It's Seth's Stanford PhD, a glorious novel about 1980 Bay Area contemporaries, 20-something engineers, lawyers, a drummer, and an ornery cat, fighting angst and finding love. Written in poetry.   

Here's the Table of Contents:

1. The world's discussed while friends are eating. (page 3)
2. A cache of billet-doux arrive. (24)
3. A concert generates a meeting. (53)
4. A house is warmed.  Sheep come alive.  (72)
5. Olives are plucked in prime condition.  (100)
6. A cat reacts to competition.  (123)
7. Arrests occur.  A speech is made.  (148)
8. Coffee is drunk, and Scrabble played.  (173)
9. A quarrel is initiated.  (192)
10. Vines rest in early winter light.  (213)
11. The Winking Owl fills up the night.  (234)
12. An old affair is renovated.  (262)
13. Friends meditate on friends who've gone.  The months go by; the world goes on.  (281)